Fall in Oregon!

 Fall has arrived and it is beautiful here in Western Oregon!  After a very dry summer, we've had quite a bit of rain, which is refreshing.  I have not written for quite awhile, and I have many updates to share.

My sweet husband and I have done some travelling this year, with our first trip to NYC in June and our second trip to Italy in late September (last there in 2015).  Both were wonderful trips, educational and well-organized by two different travel groups (Road Scholar and Smartours).  We also visited family in Nebraska, Washington, and Indiana.  

On the NYC trip we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a concert of the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall - an excellent concert!  

On our first afternoon in NYC, we took a walk along a pedestrian and cycling trail on the Hudson River.  Our walk was not far from where Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to safely land a plane with more than 150 passengers on the water in January 2009, known as “miracle on the Hudson.”  At Pier 76 we noticed a very large ship's propellor and discovered, after reading the plaque, that it was the ship my mom and I took to Germany in 1954.  The SS United States.  Mom was 18 and I was 6-weeks old, and we were on our way to join my father who was in the USAF stationed at Hahn AFB. After doing some research on the history of the ship, I wrote an article for the Oregon Genealogical Society's Fall Journal.  It's a great story!

My research work this year has included several projects I will be documenting in stories over the winter, including these two:

• Three people who are connected by DNA, each not knowing their father.  Two live in the Pacific Northwest, while one lives on the East Coast.
• A massacre in September 1812 in Ohio - two of the four people killed are my 6th great-grandparents.

I am also working on a book about a young woman in Montana who was forced to give up her babies during the years when being an unwed mother was unacceptable.  (I am fascinated by this topic and the problems it created for both the young women AND their children.)

Lastly, as the "pedaling genealogist" I have managed to get some bike riding done this year!  The numbers so far are 1104 miles during 2022, and 5169 miles since the pandemic lockdown in March of 2020.   

Enjoy the upcoming holiday season, dear readers!